Author: Chatinian Lara

A BOOK ABOUT ARMENIAN MOUFFLONS AND PASANS TO BE PUBLISHED IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, MARCH 29. ARMINFO. An album and a film about Armenian
moufflons and pasans will be made by Armenian scientists, said the
WWF representative in Armenia Karen Manvelian.

According to Mr. Manvelian, in 6 months a group of scientists will
collect the necessary information about those animals registered in
the World Red Book. The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF)
provides financing of $17 thousand for the program, realized by the
Wild Nature and Cultural Values Protection Beneficiary Foundation.

Mr. Manvelian assured that the money is enough for issuing a 300-page
illustrated album and a 5-10 minute DVD.

CONTACT FRONTLINE MONITORING POSTPONED AS ARMENIAN ARMED FORCES VIOLATED CEASE-FIRE

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
March 29 2006

Contact frontline of the troops located near Gapanli village of Terter
region was scheduled to be monitored today, but it didn’t happen as
Armenians violated the cease-fire.

Azerbaijani Defense Ministry spokesman, Ilgar Verdiyev, told APA
that OSCE chairman-in-office personal representative ambassador
Andrzey Kasprzyk and his field assistants Olexander Samarskiy and
Imre Palatinus, who came to the opposite place of monitoring, heard
shootings. Saying Armenian side violated the cease-fire, Andrzey
Kasprzyk annulled the monitoring.

The monitoring was scheduled to be carried out from Azerbaijani side by
OSCE chairman personal representative’s field assistants Harry Eronen
and Peter Key and from the opposite side by OSCE chairman-in-office
personal representative ambassador Andrzey Kasprzyk and his field
assistants Olexander Samarskiy and Imre Palatinus.

BILL TO BAR ASSISTANCE FOR RAILWAY BYPASSING ARMENIA INTRODUCED IN U.S. SENATE

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.03.2006 21:32 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ As Armenian Assembly activists stormed Capitol Hill
topromote community concerns to over 80 congressional offices today,
Senators Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) introduced
a major bill (S. 2461) in the U.S. Senate that would bar assistance
for a proposed $800 million railway that would connect Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Turkey while bypassing Armenia, reported the Armenian
Assembly of America. “United States policy in the South Caucasus seeks
to foster regional stability and enhanced cooperation, and includes
open borders and transport corridors,” Santorum said. “The proposed
rail link would not only undermine U.S. long-term goals for the region,
but serves to isolate Armenia.

Efforts to foster economic integration and reduce the risk of further
tensions are in the best interests of the United States and the South
Caucasus.” Menendez, echoing Santorum, added that “the sole aim of
this costly project is to further isolate Armenia by enhancing the
ongoing Turkish and Azerbaijani blockades.”

OSCE PLANNED MONITORING POSTPONED BECAUSE OF THE FIRE OPENED BY THE AZERI SIDE

ArmRadio.am
29.03.2006 15:12

The OSCE planned monitoring of the contact line of Armenian and
Azerbaijani Armed Forces scheduled March 29 was not held because of
the fire opened by the Azeri side form Karmiravan settlement occupied
by Azerbaijani Army.

Information and Analysis Department of the NKR Foreign Ministry
informs that the Monitoring Group headed by Personal Representative
of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Ambassador Anjey Kasprchik, as well
as representatives of NKR Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs
registered three shoots fired from automatic gun.

Ambassador Kasprchik has postponed the monitoring because of the lack
of security guarantees from Azerbaijani side.

AZERI LEADER PRAISES FRENCH POSITION ON KARABAKH CONFLICT

ANS TV, Baku, in Azeri
28 Mar 06

President Ilham Aliyev has received the credentials of the new
French ambassador to Azerbaijan, Bernard Dushssaut. France approached
resolution of the Nagornyy Karabakh [conflict] sensitively, and at
the same time, as an OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing country, France
bore its responsibility on this issue well, Aliyev said.

The ambassador expressed his confidence that economic and political
relations between the two countries would further develop successfully.

[Video showed Aliyev receiving credentials]

Armenia Fund, Inc.
111 North Jackson St. Ste. 205
Glendale, CA 91206

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Contact : Sarkis Kotanjian
For Immediate Release
March 29, 2006

Armenia Fund Telethon Documentary Story Touches Hearts

Los Angeles, CA – During the Armenia Fund Telethon, various
documentaries and segments are shown, which are exclusively produced by
Armenia Fund’s Telethon production team. During the past 2005 Telethon,
a story featured Anush, a mother of 9 that recently relocated to
Garnakar village of the Mardakert Region of Karabakh. The young
mother was very proud of her life, despite the difficult and at
times, unbearable, conditions her family has gone through. She and
her husband are part of the ever growing Armenian population of the
fledgling Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

When asked what she needed at the moment, the woman responded with
a humble request for a cow so she can provide her family with milk,
yogurt and cheese. Touched by her needs, Los Angeles based Armenia
Fund, Inc. donor, Vrej Ter Petrossian decided to help the family. After
much inquiry, Armenia Fund located the woman and her family. Ter
Petrossian facilitated for the purchase and transportation of a cow
to the family. The family could not believe their eyes when they saw
the animal.

Armenia Fund, Inc., is a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation
established in 1994 to facilitate large-scale humanitarian and
infrastructure development assistance to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.

Armenia Fund, Inc. is the U.S. Western Region affiliate of “Hayastan”
All-Armenian Fund. Tax ID# 95-4485698

ARE HUMAN RIGHTS OF ARMED FORCES PERSONNEL IN ARMENIA HONORED?

Lragir.am
27 March 06

Two reports on Armenia will be heard at the PACE Spring Session on
April 11-13 in Strasbourg, which will be in the focus of attention of
the Armenian delegation. Two question directly connected with Armenia
will be discussed, said Tigran Torosyan, Deputy Speaker, the head of
the Armenian delegation in the PACE, to the Armenian news reporters
before the session. The first is the report on the refugees and the
displaced persons in the South Caucasus, which had been introduced in
December, but was moved to the agenda of the spring session because
the winter agenda was tough.

The second is the draft report on human rights of the military
personnel in Europe, which does not directly concern Armenia, but some
points of it regard Armenia. Tigran Torosyan says the draft report
includes the assessment of the human rights of the Armenian military
personnel in 2001-2003. The deputy speaker of the National Assembly
said this document had been extended to the Ministry of Defense to
get acquainted with the assessment of the European reporter.

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

THE CATHOLICOSATE OF CILICIA COMPLETES
ITS RESIDENTIAL COMPLEX PROJECT

His Holiness Aram I announced on March 24 the completion of the
Catholicosate of Cilicia’s residential complex initiative in Fanar. Newly
married couples have already bought apartments with affordable prices and
easy payment methods and have started moving in. The residential complex
will thus enlarge the region’s Armenian community.

His Holiness assured that as a tangible expression of its mission to serve
the people our Church will continue to implement such projects. He called
for the implementation of similar projects in the Dioceses of the
Catholicosate of Cilicia.

##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of the
Catholicosate, The Cilician Catholicosate, the
administrative center of the church is located in Antelias, Lebanon.

On Line opinion, Australia
March 24 2006

The Palestinian Christian – persecuted, betrayed

By Abe Ata – posted Friday, 24 March 2006

The Palestinian Christian is an endangered species.

When the modern state of Israel was established there were about
400,000 of us. Two years ago the number was down to 80,000. Now it’s
down to 60,000. At that rate, in a few years there will be none of us
left. When this happens non-Christian groups will move into our
churches and claim them forever.

Palestinian Christians within Israel fare little better. On the face
of it, their number has grown by 20,000 since 1991. But this is
misleading, for the census classification `Christian’ includes some
20,000 recent non-Arab migrants from the former Soviet Union.

So why are Palestinian Christians abandoning their homeland?

We have lost hope, that’s why. We are treated as non-people. Few
outside the Middle East even know we exist, and those who do,
conveniently forget.

I refer, of course, to the American Religious Right. They see modern
Israel as a harbinger of the Second Coming, at which time Christians
will go to paradise, and all others (presumably including Jews) to
hell. To this end they lend military and moral support to Israel.

Even by the double-dealing standards of international diplomacy this
is a breathtakingly cynical bargain. It is hard to know who is using
whom more: the Christian Right for offering secular power in the
expectation that the Jewish state will be destroyed by a greater
spiritual one; or the Israeli Right for accepting their offer. What
we do know is that both sides are abusing the Palestinians.
Apparently we don’t enter into anyone’s calculations.

The views of the Israeli Right are well known: they want us gone.

Less well known are the views of the American Religious Right.
Strangely, they find the liberation of Iraqis from a vile dictator
just, but do not find it unjust for us to be under military
occupation for 38 long years.

Said Senator James Inhofe (Rep.,Oklahoma): `God Appeared to Abraham
and said: `I am giving you this land’, the West Bank. This is not a
political battle at all. It is a contest over whether or not the word
of God is true.’

Inhofe must have got it wrong. Promises are being made to earthly
Jerusalem that God did not make. The Holy Land was promised to
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants, as stated in the Bible.
These are the Palestinian Muslims, Christians and Jews, who have been
living in the land for thousands of years. The Bible never mentioned
that God promised it solely to Jews. Anyone can be a Jew, but not
anyone can be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their
descendants. James Inhofe and followers are unable to tell the
difference between Jew, Israelite and Israel.

House Majority Leader Dick Armey (Rep.,Texas) was even more
forthright: `I’m content to have Israel grab the entire West Bank … I
happen to believe that the Palestinians should leave.’

There is a phrase for this. Ethnic cleansing.

Silencing us, from seeking your support and enlightening you about
our suffering, goes counter to what Jesus has mandated us to do. We
all know that Muslims and Jews get ceaseless support (political,
spiritual and financial) from Saudi Arabia and America respectively,
while Palestinian Christians get nothing from Australian and other
Western `Christian’ governments. (The Pope has been an exception.)

Prior to the 1967 war, the Christian youth at the Lutheran, Baptist,
Methodist and other churches in Bethlehem used to pray and rejoice
and have a good chat with hundreds of American Christian pilgrims. In
particular Texas and California were two places from where many came
to visit the Holy Land. Today only fading memories prevail. Bethlehem
has been vacated by Christian families. The remaining Christians are
paying the price by experiencing curfews which last for weeks. They
remain sandwiched between Muslims and Jews without drawing the
slightest concern from the many so-called Western Christians.

So why do American Christians stand by while their leaders advocate
the expulsion of fellow Christians? Could it be that they do not know
that the Holy Land has been a home to Christians since, well … since
Christ?

Do not think I am asking for special treatment for Christians. Ethnic
cleansing is evil whoever does it and to whomever it is done.
Palestinian Christians – Anglican, Maronite Catholics, Orthodox,
Lutherans, Armenians, Baptists, Copts and Assyrians – have been
rubbing shoulders with each other and with other religions – Muslims,
Jews, Druze and (most recently) Baha’is – for centuries. And we want
to do so for centuries more. But we can’t if we are driven out by
despair.

We are equally frightened by those who commit suicide bombings. None
of us Christians have condoned it or even contemplated the idea. Our
commitment to Jesus’ teachings will never shake our resolve in this
matter.

American journalist Anders Strindberg makes a clearer conclusion. He
says Palestinians are equated with Islamists, Islamists with
terrorists. And presumably because all organised Christian activity
among Palestinians is non-political and non-violent, the community
hardly ever hits western headlines. Suicide bombers sell more copy
than people who congregate for Bible study.

What we seek is support: material, moral, political and spiritual. As
Palestinians we grieve for what we have lost, and few people have
lost more than us (the Ashkenazi Jews are one). But grief can be
assuaged by the fellowship of friends.

Abe W Ata was a temporary delegate to the UN in 1970 and has lived
and worked in the Middle East, America and Australia. Dr Ata is a
Senior Fellow Institute for the Advancement of Research, and lectures
in Psychology at the Australian Catholic University (Melbourne). Dr
Ata is a 9th generation Christian Palestinian academic born in
Bethlehem.
.asp?article=4298

Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region
104 North Belmont Street, Suite 200
Glendale, California 91206
Phone: 818.500.1918 Fax: 818.246.7353
[email protected]
PRESS RELEASE
Thursday, March 23, 2006

Contact: Armen Carapetian
Tel: (818) 500-1918

USC PROMPTLY CANCELS CONFERENCE ON `TURKISH PERSPECTIVE’ ON THE
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Armenian National Committee of America – Western
Region (ANCA-WR) learned on March 22nd that a planned conference at
the University of Southern California (USC) featuring leading deniers
of the Armenian Genocide was canceled.

The USC Center on Public Diplomacy originally sponsored the
conference, entitled `Turkish-Armenian Relations: The Turkish
Perspective’, which was scheduled to take place on Sunday, March
26th. Former Turkish Ambassadors Gündüz Aktan and Ömer Engin
Lütem were invited to speak about the Armenian Genocide and
Turkish-Armenian relations. Aktam and Lütem are notorious deniers
of the Armenian Genocide, and the event announcement made no attempt
to hide that their discussion would not only distort history but
attempt to justify Ottoman Turkey’s extermination of its Armenian
population.

`The USC event, which was to have featured Turkish members of the
State Department’s discredited TARC initiative, is part of an
orchestrated national campaign to breath new life into the failed
effort,’ said Zanku Armenian, a member of the ANCA-WR Board of
Directors. `The ANCA-WR, working with USC Armenian student groups,
Alumni and school supporters, was able to demonstrate to USC officials
the misguided and sinister nature of this panel which led to its
cancellation. The cancellation, along with the March 22nd Los Angeles
Times editorial reaffirming the Armenian Genocide, sends a strong
message to those who deny the Armenian Genocide: ‘You are not welcome
in California.’ We applaud USC administrators for taking prompt
action to rectify this situation and thus protecting USC’s fine
reputation from being used in Turkey’s propaganda war.’

Outraged student groups called on USC administrators to ask why this
conference was organized. In a letter to the director of the USC
Center on Public Diplomacy, ANCA-WR Chairman Steven Dadaian called on
the organizers to drop the conference. The quick action to draw
attention to this issue by many groups and individuals resulted in the
ultimate cancellation once USC officials were made aware of the real
intent of the event.

The ANCA is the largest and most influential Armenian American
grassroots political organization. Working in coordination with a
network of offices, chapters, and supporters throughout the United
States and affiliated organizations around the world, the ANCA
actively advances the concerns of the Armenian American community on a
broad range of issues.

Editor’s Note: The text of the ANCA-WR letter to USC is attached
below.

#####

March 22, 2006

USC Center on Public Diplomacy
Joshua S. Fouts
3502 Watt Way, ASC Suite 103
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0281

Dear Mr. Fouts:

It has recently come to our attention that the USC Center on Public
Diplomacy is hosting a program called `Armenian `Genocide’,
International Law and the Psychology of Destroying the Other’
featuring two speakers who are notorious deniers of the Armenian
Genocide, Gündüz S. Aktan and Ömer Engin Lütem.

According to the description of the program issued by the Center,
Messrs. Aktan and Lütem have the extraordinary task of turning the
victims of the first genocide of the 20th century into the
perpetrators. Based on the program, it appears that Messrs. Aktan and
Lütem plan to argue the Turkish government’s official position that
(i) there were no massacres of Armenians, (ii) even if there were
massacres, the Armenians deserved them, (iii) the Armenians killed
more Turks than vice versa and (iv) the deaths were as a result of
`relocation’ and were not Genocide.

As today’s Los Angeles Times editorial clearly states, the facts
surrounding the Armenian Genocide are not in dispute. The Armenian
Genocide has been recognized by the United Nations, the United States
government and even the Ottoman courts who convicted the perpetrators
of the Armenian Genocide in absentia. The fact that USC is going to
provide a forum for Turkish foreign agents to deny historical facts by
making outright false statements is disturbing and a violation of your
own Code of Ethics. Genocide Denial is a form of hatred and bigotry
and it is outside the purview of accepted standards of civil discourse
within the academic community. It is a deliberate misrepresentation of
fact and a scientific fraud which must not be tolerated by the
University. What’s more, this panel is a threat to the University’s
academic environment because it frames the genocide as a historical
controversy.

All this is heightened by the fact that USC has an Armenian-American
student body of over a thousand students whose families are the direct
descendants of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by Turks and now
officially denied by the Turkish government. This panel will
undoubtedly be considered an extremely offensive event which
disrespects the rights and dignity of not only your students but to
all the hundreds of thousands who are the victims and surviving
children of the Armenian Genocide.

We wonder what the reaction would be if USC were to host a
`discussion’ for neo-Nazis to argue that no Jews were killed, going so
far as to assert that while some Jews may have been killed during the
Holocaust, they deserved it. Would USC allow their name to be
associated with such a hypothetical event much less be sponsoring it?

Our organization is prepared to work with USC to minimize the damage
caused to the university’s image within the Armenian-American
community as a result of this program being scheduled if immediate
action is taken to cancel it. However, if USC chooses to proceed with
this program, our organization will be forced to take further action
to protest the University’s complicity in providing a forum for
genocide deniers.

We are requesting a meeting this week to discuss this urgent matter.
Please feel free to contact me at (818) 500-1918.

Sincerely,

[signed]

Steven J. Dadaian
Chairman, Armenian National Committee of America – Western Region

cc: Steven B. Sample
C.L. Max Nikias
Joseph Aoun
Vartan Gregorian